Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1887-12-17
Newspapers and Education.

Newspapers and Education.
The extent to which the knowledr,
of letters, or at any rate the knowledge
of reading and writing, has spread
among the people of any country is in.
dicated pretty closely by the numbe,
of newspapers or other periodicals that
they read. 1t is easy to understand
that the people Of the United States.
who spend more money for their own
education than any other people in the
world, have greater number of jour.
mails, compared with their population.
than any other country. In the United
States there is published one paper to
every 4, 433 inhabitants.
The country in which the proportion
of newspapers to the population is next
greatest is also a country where the
people govern themselves and paw
great attention to education. This
country is Switzerland, and it has one
journal to every 5,O73 people.
The next country in what may be
called newspaper rank is Denmark,
which has a small population and free
schools. There is one newspaper to
every 6,022 people.
The cases of France and Germany
present an exception to the rule that
the newspapers are in proportion to
the number of people, relatively to the
whole population, who can read There
is one newspaper to every 8,642 people
in France, and one to every 9,474 in
Germany; but the proportion of illit-
crates is, nevertheless, greater in
France than in Germany, and the Ger
mans pay much more attention to edu-
cational matters than do the French.
In nearly the whole of Germany all
children are compelled to 60 to school.
The greater proportion of newspa-
pers in France is probably due to the
keen interest that most of the people
have in public affairs and their great
fondness for reading stories Nearly
all French newspapers publish con-
tinued story. generally printed in short
columns across the bottom of the
pages. Many more small, cheap news
papers are published in France than
in Germany.
Great Britain and Ireland come next
upon the list, with one journal for
every l1,4O9 inhabitants. There are
many illiterates in Ireland, and in some
parts of England, and the schools are
nowhere free, as with us, nor is educa-
ton compulsory. The newspapers,
however, are very widely circulated,
and, for the most part, very cheap.
The very largest daily newspapers in
London, which pay great sums every
year for telegraphic dispatches and
other news, are sold throughout the
kingdom for one penny 1.-TWO cents).
We find that Sweden comes next on
the list, with one newspaper for every
13, people. Very few Swedes are
unable to read, and primary education
throughout Sweden and Norway is free
and compulsory. Perhaps the fact that
intemperance prevails to most alarm
ing extent in Sweden and Norway has
something to do with the fact that jour-
nails and reviews circulate to less ex>
tent there than in other countries where
the standard of population is high.
Austria has one paper to every Il o32
people, and her companion kingdom of
Hungary only one to every "a, 343. The
difference is easily understood when we
note the fact that in Austria proper SO
per cent of the adults are unable to
read and write, and in Hungary only
% per cent. Even in Hungary the
newspapers which have the largest cir
culation are printed in the German
language.
In Italy the number of people who
are unable to read is very great, and
and there is but one paper for every
1913 inhabitants. The peasants of
Italy are among the poorest in all
Europe. Nearly two-thirds of the pop
ulation over 10 years of age are unable
to read, and fifty-nine men and seventy
eight women out of every hundred are
unable to sign the marriage registers.
Russia in Europe is at the bottom of
the list in the proportion of newspapers
taken by the people. There is but one
journal to every 109,611 people in Rus
STA. This is easy to understand when
we read that in her general educational
system Russia is still behind even such
countries as Japan and Egypt
Youths COmnapiOn.